NECWA News Blog

Trip Summary Report from our Spring Seabird & Whale Tales Excursion. June 12, 2011 from 8 am to 4 pm Click HERE to read Wayne Petersen's wonderful summary and to view the species list and count. Watch our slide show above of images taken from our June 2011 SAWT trip. Enjoy! Thank you from all of us at NECWA. We had a great time and we hope you did as well. Hope to see you in September for our fall SAWT trip!

An amazing look at two mother and calf pairs that collide with one another as both moms are feeding at the surface. On the 2 pm whale watching trip aboard the Tails of the Sea, a luxury commercial whale watching boat owned and operated by Captain John Boats, we watch in amazement as two humpback mother and calf pairs cross paths right off our bow! Ganesh and her calf are coming towards our boat as they surface feed off the bow. This pair runs smack dab into Venom and her calf who are also feeding at the surface, but off our port side. What a commotion as moms and kids run into one another! But true to form, these humpback mom's keep their cool and keep on truckin! Venom and calf move continue to feed our bow as they head to the north and Ganesh and calf continue to feed as they move off our port side heading to the southeast.

Tagging program uncovers new whale tales in Plymouth

Whale Watch Trip on Saturday, July 30th aboard the Tails of the Sea, a commercial whale watching boat owned and operated by Captain John Whale Watching and Fishing Tours. Entanglement of Rapier's 2009 calf with thin, monofilament line. Posted by Krill Carson We had a beautiful day offshore with clear skies and relatively calm seas. As we crossed over the southern part of Stellwagen Bank, we found a cluster of humpback whales scattered throughout the area. Our first close sighting was a small whale that was a bit active. This whale was rolling on its left side and flicking its tail out of the water. We didn't think much about this active behavior since a number of other whales were breaching sporadically in the area. But when I looked back over my photos, I realized that this whale had monofilament draped over its back. Monofilament is used by rod and reel fishermen offshore as they try to catch striped bass, cod, haddock and other medium-sized fish. It is also used by fisherman...

Seabird & Whale Tales excursion - an all day marine wildlife experience! Join us for our upcoming marine wildlife excursion on Sunday, September 11th from 10 am to 6 pm. Our Seabird & Whale Tale excursion is an annual fundraising event and provides unique opportunities to view seabirds, whales, dolphins, seals, basking sharks and ocean sunfish in the waters off Cape Cod. Leave from the Town Wharf in Plymouth at 10 am and head to the waters off Cape Cod to view a variety of coastal marine wildlife. Enjoy the ride as we head offshore aboard the Tails of the Sea, a luxury whale watching vessel owned and operated by Captain John Boats ( www.captjohn.com ). Have fun listening to our guest naturalists including Wayne Petersen, David Clapp, Jim Sweeney and Dr. John Jahoda. To learn more about this trip or to register and pay for this event, go to our Constant Contact's Events link at http://events.constantcont ​act.com/register/event?llr ​=qdcmohcab&oeidk=a07e48zcl ​crf2e2a89b

Text contributed by NECWA staff member Ann Cook. Photos by Robyn Perry. On July 2, 2011, the United States Army Corp of Engineers (USACE) stationed at the Cape Cod Canal received a call about a stranded seal that appeared to be a juvenile gray seal. This seal had been reported to the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) the day before and IFAW staff had come down to the Canal to assess the animal's condition. At that time, IFAAW determined that the seal was healthy and in good condition. However, on this first Saturday in July, a large wake from a boat had thrown the seal against the rip rap and stunned her. Ann Cook contacted Krill from NECWA asking for advice. Krill recommended a second call to IFAW updating them on the change in the seal's status. IFAW recommended that the seal be rescued due to this change in the health of the animal. The first Rangers on scene were Gabe Lundgren, Ann Cook, Roger Hagen, and USACE Park Attendants, Robyn and Lin Perry. This team succ...

On the afternoon of July 4th, a local fisherman spotted an ocean sunfish, Mola mola , 150 feet off the entrance to the Waquoit Bay jetty. From all observations, the fish was in good health and was swimming slowly at the surface. This "easy going" behavior allowed the fisherman to get some fabulous photographs of this strange and wonderful fish. This sighting is the first one that has been reported to NECWA this season! NECWA has a community-sighting network for ocean sunfish and basking sharks called NEBShark (New England Basking Shark Project) and we ask all interested members of the community to report sightings of live or dead animals offshore or on the beach. Information from NEBShark will be used to better understand the biology and life history of the ocean sunfish and the basking shark, two large, coastal pelagic fish that feed off New England each spring, summer and fall. And the data collected from the sighting network combined with information collected during stran...

An exciting day of wildlife observation aboard the Captain John Whale Watching boat. Coral, a humpback whale provided an exciting view of lunge feeding and straining as sooty shearwaters flitted across the water sharing in the feast of bait being pushed to the surface by bluefin tuna. Also in the area was a handful of Minke whales, smallest of all the baleen whales. Please join us as we look forward to seeing you and sharing these wonderful experiences off our coastal waters with Captain John Boats and our crew.

9 am whale watch on the Tails of the Sea with Nick Nick and Leah had a fabulous day offshore with feeding humpback whales aboard the Tails of the Sea, a commercial whale watching vessel owned and operated by Captain John Boats. Thank you Captain John for making positions available for our interns aboard your whale watching boats. What a great experience and opportunity. And thanks Nick for a great job on recording these types of behaviors from very endangered and rare animals. Great job!

Update on June 12, 2011 at 6 am: As of this morning, the trip is still a go. It will be a wet day so please dress appropriately. Again, we plan on heading down the backside of the Cape since this is where the majority of the whales and seabirds have been sighted. Yesterday, there were great sightings of humpbacks and seabirds just off Highland Light. The word from the captain was that the whales, seabirds and the bait were moving to the north! Yeah! We ask that all registrants please meet down at the Town Wharf in Plymouth by 7:30 am. We need to leave the dock by 8 am sharp for we need to be back at the dock by 4 pm sharp. Call our Trip Manager, Krill Carson (508-566-0009) if you have any problems or concerns tomorrow morning. Dress for the weather (rain and a bit windy). Best, Krill Carson President, NECWA 508-566-0009

Jesse's Marine - Yard Sale with a marine theme Today NECWA staff and interns teamed up with Captain John Whale Watching and Fishing Tours (www.captjohn.com) at Jesse's Marine in Plymouth MA for a different kind of yard sale. Jesse's Marine in Plymouth MA sponsored their second annual yard sale with a marine theme. Folks from all over the area participated by offering used or new items of marine related equipment and supplies. Leah and Nick helped Krill man an educational table that had fun and exciting whale and shark material on it. On display were whale and shark related artifacts including humpback baleen, whales bones, whale teeth and much more. And there was lots of free educational material available for folks to pick up and take home. One of the favorite activities that Leah and Nick offered was the beach dig. Here kids could dig for fossil teeth in a large bin filled with sand, shells and beach glass. Even the older kids had fun sitting on the grass and getting the...

Salt Presentation at the New Bedford Whaling National Park NECWA staff and interns Krill, Val, Nick and Patty headed down to New Bedford to provide an afternoon of fun and adventure at the Whaling National Park. This is NECWA's second visit to the Whaling National Park and it was fun to reconnect with all the great staff including Rangers and Educational Specialists Emily and Frank. Before the presentation on Salt, the humpback whale, the adults and children who joined us had fun checking out our educational displays, picking up some educational material and trying their hands at some arts & craft activities. Nick was our photographer for the event and he also helped to explain many of the bones and samples that were on our display table. Many were amazed at the neat whale and shark artifacts, including humpback baleen, shark jaws and whale bones. And others were shocked to see just how small whale food really can be! We had preserved samples of the most common type of zooplank...

On April 8th, 2011 Krill, Tammy and Emily were invited up to the MA Division of Marine Fisheries' Annisquam River Marine Fisheries Field Station to meet Scott Elzey and his team (Katie L'Heureux and Kimberly Trull) to discuss possible aging techniques for ocean sunfish, Mola mola . Since 2005, NECWA has conducted an ocean sunfish project through our NEBShark program. Each fall, over 20 ocean sunfish strand (mostly dead) on Cape Cod beaches. We are not sure why these individuals are stranding, but we do know that ocean sunfish are common visitors to our waters in the summer and early fall. They are attracted into our New England waters due to the high abundance of their favorite prey, jellyfish, ctenophores and other gelatinous zooplankton. We spent the morning slicing, examining and working with the vertebrae of ocean sunfish that stranded on Cape Cod beaches this past season. We are hoping to use a banding technique similar to what is used for cartilaginous fish and som...